Roof girder construction



1969 u. H. WIPPERMANN 3, 74,578-

ROOF GIRDER CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug.

INVENTOR 04 fi/d'h lV/Pf M4AW BY I ATTORNEY! United States Patent US. Cl. 5292 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Roof girder construction of the type having a pair of truss joists and bracket assemblies to be mounted on the vertical walls of a structure. The assemblies include a truss joist having a pair of upper and lower laterally spaced elongated angular members extending between the ridge of the roof and the vertical wall of the structure. The upper and lower members are transversely aligned and have interposed therebetween a continuous serpentine formed rod welded at alternating spaced points between each pair of said upper and lower members so that the ends of the upper and lower members are formed with a slot in between to provide means for positioning the truss assembly at any given angle with respect to the ridge of the roof and the vertical wall of the structure. A base bearing bracket extends inwardly of and is adapted to be mounted on the vertical wall structure. The base bearing bracket has a base portion and an upright member integrally formed therewith. A portion of the upright member has a width substantially equal to the slot formed in one end of the truss assembly and is welded in position at a desired angle relative to the vertical wall of the structure so as to obtain the desired slope of the roof. A ridge bracket which has a vertically disposed ridge plate positioned substantially parallel to the vertical wall of the structure and has a laterally extending member formed integrally with the vertically disposed ridge plate with the laterally extending member having a width substantially equal to the slot formed in the other end of the truss assembly is welded in position at an angle complementary to the angle formed by the truss with respect to the vertical wall of the structure. The base bearing bracket and the ridge bracket have means thereon and are of sufficient dimension-a1 characteristics to facilitate the formation of a self-supporting roof girder construction without the aid of additional reinforcing members from means other than the roof girder construction.

REFERENCE TO CROSS RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of my previously filed application Ser. No. 605,438, filed on Dec. 28, 1966, and now abandoned, for Roof Girder Construction, and the contents thereof are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Where structures are to be erected employing a roof girder type of construction, particularly where the span of the roof is to be of considerable length, it is generally necessary to provide additional vertical supporting columns to those normally employed for simple roof construction and also additionally often to provide cross bracing in the walls of the structure itself or adjacent thereto. This additional column support or cross bracing is employed to sufficiently anchor the roof girder construction in position in order to furnish sufiicient reinforcement to alleviate the danger of having the roof collapse. This problem is particularly existent in large buildings where the roof structure has to span a distance of 80 feet or more. With present known construction procedures considerable support is necessary in order to prevent the roof structure from collapsing under unusual stress and therefore to meet building construction requirements.

Also, when additional supporting columns are not employed, the columns which are necessary under normal structural requirements have to be formed with such dimensions that they exceed the width of the finished wall thereby forming protrusions when the interior walls are finished. Naturally, these protrusions result in unusable space within the structure and difliculties are encountered with respect to placement of fixtures therein, for example, cabinets, benches, or the like, or difiiculty in dividing the structure into equal work areas. Furthermore, the placement of windows and doors is also limited due to the presence of these expanded columns. Furthermore, if cross bracing is employed rather than the expanded and enlarged column structure, once again there is extreme difiiculty in placing windows and doors in desirable locations in the Wall structure.

Therefore, it would be extremely advantageous if a roof girder construction could be provided which is essentially self-supporting and which may merely be mounted on a building having common structural features without the necessity of any additional reinforcements being applied to the roof girder construction itself outside of the basic structure. A most advantageous structure is envisioned whereby an all-steel roof construction is provided in true gable form and is entirely independent of any wall reinforcement construction whatsoever. It is reasonable to envision such a structure being employed on roof spans of feet or more and would certainly be fit for a barn as well for a millionaires mansion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides a roof girder construction of the type having a pair of truss joists and bracket assemblies which are mounted on the vertical walls of a structure. The assemblies include a truss joist having a pair of upper and lower laterally spaced elongated angular members extending between the ridge of the roof and the vertical wall of the structure. The upper and lower members are transversely aligned and have interposed therebetween a continuous sepentine formed rod welded at alternating spaced points between each pair of said upper and lower members so that the ends of the upper and lower members are formed having a slot therebetween to provide means for positioning the truss assembly at any given .angle with respect to the ridge of the roof and the vertical wall structure. A base bearing bracket extends inwardly of the vertical wall structure and is adapted to be mounted thereon. The base bearing bracket has a base portion and an upright member integrally formed therewith. A portion of the upright member has a width substantially equal to the slot formed in one end of the truss assembly and is mounted in position at a desired angle relative to the vertical wall of the structure so as to obtain the desired slope of the roof. A ridge bracket which has a vertically disposed ridge plate positioned substantially parallel to the vertical wall of the structure and a laterally extending member formed integrally with the vertically disposed ridge plate having a width substantially equal to the slot formed in the other end of the truss assembly is mounted in position at an angle complementary to the angle formed by the truss with respect to the vertical wall of the structure. The base bearing bracket and the ridge bracket have means thereon and are of sufiicient dimensional characteristics to facilitate the formation of a self-supporting roof girder construction without the aid of additional reinforcing members frommeans other than the roof girder construction.

Among the primary objectives of the invention is to provide roof girder construction of the truss joist, bracket assembly type in which no supporting columns or cross bracing for reinforcing the roof construction is required by means other than that employed in the roof construction itself. A roof girder construction is provided which may be merely fastened to the upper surface of the vertical walls of the structure being constructed. The invention provides a roof girder construction for assembling a roof having any desired pitch and of extreme span of 80 feet and longer without the necessity of additional supporting means in the wall structure or bracing means other than that included in the roof girder construction itself. The roof girder construction contemplated is one of uniformity of construction materials for the bracket assemblies with only variation in length of the truss joist required, thus obviating many construction details required in roof design and providing a roof girder construction which is substantially inexpensive to manufacture and resulting in economy in the cost of the structure. Furthermore, this invention provides a structure which will alleviate the above mentioned problems and which will provide a roof girder construction having the advantageous features as those discussed above.

With these objectives, among others, in mind reference is had to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing a truss joist mounted between a ridge bracket and a base bearing bracket mounted at the top of a vertical wall of a structure shown broken away;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a base bearing bracket and truss joist shown partly broken away;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one half of the ridge bracket assembly showing the trust joist mounted thereto and partially broken away;

FIG. 4 is a modified form of a ridge bracket assembly;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a bearing plate for mounting on the upper surface of a vertical wall;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a completed roof girder construction for an entire building shown positioned on the vertical wall structure of the building and exaggerated in scale for illustrative purposes;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the assembly of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is an end elevational view thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, particularly to FIGS. 1-3 and 5, truss joist assembly 16 includes a pair of upper and lower elongated angular members 12 and 14 which extend between the vertical wall 15 of the structure being constructed and the ridge of the roof to be constructed. Upper and lower members 12 and 14 are laterally spaced apart and transversely aligned by a continuous serpentine formed rod 16 which is disposed therebetween and welded at alternating spaced points 13 and 20 so that slots 22 and 24 are formed at the ends of upper and lower members 12 and 14. Bearing plate 19, which may be of a steel material, neoprene or other common material well known in the art is shown in detail in FIG. 5, and is mounted on vertical wall 15 and is held in place by a bolt 28 or a similar fastening device as depicted in FIG. 1. Base bearing bracket 26 is positioned over bolts 28 and the bolts pass through suitable openings formed in bracket 26. Base bearing bracket 26, hearing bracket 19 and wall 15 are held in position by nuts 30 as shown in FIG. 1. In this manner, the truss joist assembly 10 can be easily mounted and removed from the wall portion of a structure being constructed. Naturally, other forms of construction may be employed for mounting base bearing bracket 26 at the end of a steel column either by welding or similar means.

Base bearing bracket 26 is formed having a base portion 32 and an upright member 34 formed integrally therewith. Also fastened on the end of bracket 26 is an upright rectangular plate 35, the purpose of which will be discussed in detail at a later point in this disclosure. Plate 35 is of a wider diameter than upright member 34 and therefore may be fastened either to the end of upright member 34, the end of base portion 32, the end of angular member 12 or a combination of any of these. Furthermore, plate 35 may be Welded or bolted in posi tion, fastened by any other common means or cast as part of bracket 26 itself.

The Width of upright member 34 is substantially equal to slot 22 formed at the ends of truss joist 10 so that truss joist it may be mounted thereon and held in fixed position by welding the ends of upper and lower members 12 and 14 to upright member 34 as readily depicted in FIG. 2. Other common fastening means may be employed alternatively or in addition to welding such as by a bolting arrangement. Also, it should be noted that by positioning members 12 and 14 at various angles but in the same relative alignment, various slopes may be obtained by positioning truss joist 10 at any desired angle prior to fastening to bracket 26. Naturally, bracket 26 will be positioned in substantial perpendicular relationship to the upright wall 15 of the structure to which it is to be applied.

As previously discussed, when mounting base bearing bracket 26 to vertical wall 15 it is advantageous to have openings 25 longitudinally slotted in shape in a direction parallel to the longitudinal length of bracket 26. This is to compensate for any expansion and contraction of the roof structure after it has been completed. It is well known in girder construction of this type that under extreme conditions of heat or cold particularly long lengths of structure have a tendency to be subject to considerable expansion or contraction. Slotted opening 25 permits this to occur without the danger of buckling of the truss structure. To alleviate the danger of the bolt or nut rustlng to the steel structure and a resultant deleterious effect on the movement of the bolt in the slot, a protective coating of common material may be applied to the surface of the bracket adjacent the slotted opening.

At the ridge end of truss joist 10 is a ridge bracket 36 which is similar in construction to base bearing bracket 26. Thus, the ridge mounting flange 38 is disposed vertically and substantially parallel to the vertical wall 15 of the structure. Extending laterally from ridge mounting flange 38 is member 39 which is formed integrally therewith and is of a width substantially equal to slots 24 formed at the ridge end of truss joist 10. Ridge plate 36 is then mounted in a similar manner as base bearing bracket 26 so that it is held in position by welding, or other similar fastening means, upper and lower members 12 and 14 to laterally extending member 39. It should be noted that ridge mounting flange 38 has an upper portion 37 which extends laterally beyond the vertical surface extremities of plate 38. The purpose of these extensions 37 will be discussed in greater detail at a further point in this disclosure.

It is apparent from the foregoing that a like assembly such as shown in FIG. 1 is mounted to ridge bracket 36 and to a base bearing bracket 26, not shown, which is mounted to the wall opposed to wall 15 of the structure. In this manner, two joined truss joists 10 in alignment form a span for the structure from one wall 15 to the opposing parallel wall of the structure. The base bearing brackets 26 are thereby positioned and located at the cave of the roof structure and the ridge brackets 36 are located at the ridge of the roof structure.

If desired, a suitable angle iron 49 may be fastened between the opposed base bearing brackets 26 to add strength to the roof section as well as forming a base from which to hang a ceiling on the interior of the completed structure. Hangers 52, of suitable length and of a size substantially equal to the webbing 16 of the truss joist, are passed between the lower members 14 and fixed in position as shown in FIG. 1. Each hanger 52 comprises threads 54 and 57 formed at each end and a pair of nuts 56 and 58 for engagement thereon. A washer 55 is utilized for maintaining one end of hanger 52 a spaced distance from web 16. A suflicient number of hangers are employed so as to maintain angle iron 49 in a substantially horizontal plane and to provide additional supporting means for angle iron 49 other than its being fastened to base bearing brackets 26. As previously stated, angle iron or cross beam 49 also is employed to provide an anchoring means for maintaining a ceiling within the structure. The amount of support that beam 49 adds to the roof will naturally depend on the width of the building and the cross sectional area of beam 49.

Where upright member 34 or laterally extending member 39 extends above upper members 12 after truss joist is welded in position, the excess portion is cut away suitably by an acetylene torch so that a substantially smooth upper surface is formed. As can be readily seen in FIG. 2, upper member 12 could extend below the upper edge of upright member 34 thus necessitating the removal of that portion extending above member 12. Naturally, the amount to be removed from bracket 26 is principally determined by the angle at which truss joist 10 rises between the eave of the roof structure and the ridge of the roof.

FIG. 4 illustrates another modified form of a ridge bracket 42 which includes a vertically disposed flange 44, is formed having complementary laterally extending members 46 and 48 and may be cast as a single unit. Extensions 47 are also present and function similar to extension 37 of ridge bracket 36. In the modified form of FIG. 4, it is not necessary to provide either bolts or welding to hold a complementary ridge bracket such as used in form of ridge bracket 36. Ridge bracket 42 functions as a unit similarly to two ridge brackets 36 bolted or fastened together in some manner as previously discussed. Once again, ridge bracket 42 as well as ridge bracket 36 has portions of laterally extending plates 46 and 48 cut away to the desired extent depending upon the pitch formed by the roof construction as previously discussed in regard to base bracket 26. Once again, the angle would depend upon the pitch at which the roof girder construction is to be constructed with the result being to provide a smooth continuous surface to the upper surface area of truss joist 10. The ridge bracket may be cut by an acetylene torch or may be cast to the desired shape and configuration in accordance with the structure to be constructed.

In practice, it has been found that the roof pitch formed by the roof construction as described herein may be varied at least between 180 degrees and 36 degrees. The span or overall length of a truss joist of the type contemplated herein may vary up to 75 feet or more. Thus, the overall span of the structure may be up to 150 feet or more. Obviously, shorter spans may be employed by using truss joist and bracket assemblies of the type disclosed herein to permit column-free construction for roof structures. The size and dimensions of the materials employed herein may vary for any desired structure in accordance with the load the roof is to carry. The size and construction of the ridge brackets and base brackets may also vary considerably according to the requirements for a particular structure. The truss joint may be fabricated on the job site or prefabricated with the base bearing brackets and ridge brackets assembled prior to erection.

Turning to FIGS. 68, the truss joint assembly 10 discussed above in detail is shown in combination with other truss joist assemblies 10 to form a roof girder construction of extensive size to form the framework for the roof of a large building. In fact, the roof girder construction is shown assembled to a structure having verurally as previously described is mounted on the wall 15 and to base bearing plate 26 by means of bolt 28. No additional column supports or enlarged columns are necessaryin wall 15 as shown nor are there any cross bracing required within the wall or from the roof girder construction to the ground either outside of or inside of the wall to additionally support the roof structure.

The rigidity and strength of each truss joist assembly 10 has been discussed in detail previously in this disclosure and as stated provides extreme rigidity and strength in the vertical and horizontal direction. However, when a multiplicity of these truss joist assemblies are assembled to form an entire roof girder construction for a building of extensive length, each span 50 of two aligned truss joist assemblies 10 is again parallel aligned with another span 50 with the number of similarly aligned parallel spans depending upon the entire length of the building to be constructed. Therefore, it is necessary to alleviate the danger of possible collapse of these spans 50 due to extreme forces from the direction of wall 51 toward wall 52 or vice versa. Although there is virtually no danger of spans 50 collapsing from forces in other directions, this problem is alleviated in the case of -a building requiring a number of spans as that shown in FIGS. 6-8 by the presence of an eave girder 53 located at each eave of the roof and connected to each span along the length of the building and by the presence of at least one tie rod 54 which is connected to each adjacent span '50 along the ridge of the roof girder construction. With the presence of eave girders 53 and tie rods 54, the danger of collapse of the roof structure in the longitudinal direction is virtually eliminated. This is true even for winds up to and greater than miles per hour. The number of tie rods 54 used to connect each pair of adjacent spans nat urally depends on the length of the building. In FIGS. 6-8, two tie rods are shown connecting each pair of adjacent spans.

Eave girders 53 are mounted on base bearing brackets 26 by means of end plates 35. As previously discussed, end plates 35 are mounted on base bearing brackets 26. A multiplicity of holes 55 are present in plate 35 to which eave girder 53 is connected by means of bolts or other convenient fastening means. It should be noted that each set of bolts on each end plate 35 are vertically aligned so as to provide at least two bolts to prevent twisting of the eave girder and the possible shearing olf of engagement thereof with end plates 35. In this manner, each long eave girder 53 is connected to the series of parallel aligned spans 50 to provide support for the extensive roof girder construction for the entire structure.

An additional aid in this regard is the fastening of tie rods 54 to extensions 37 of ridge brackets 36 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. These tie rods connect each adjacent ridge bracket and provide the same type of support as eave girders 53. This gives additional support in the longitudinal direction and alleviates the danger of collapsing of the entire roof structure in the direction perpendicular to spans 50. In this manner, with the natural rigid construction of spans 50 and the additional supports of girders 53 and tie rods 54, no additional supports are needed to provide a roof girder construction to cover an extremely large building and support the roof thereof. The structure as discussed, is merely mounted on the walls 15 of the structure by means of a bolt extending through hole 56 in bearing bracket 19 and hole 25 in base bearing bracket 26. Returning to a discussion of the tie rods, it is readily apparent that a series of holes 57 are present in each ex- 7 tension 37 of the ridge bracket 36 through which a bolt may be placed to fasten tie rods 54 properly and permanently in position. Once again, a series of at least two holes are provided at each location to alleviate the danger of twisting of the tie rods and possible shearing of the tie rods from engagement with the ridge brackets.

When the entire roof is assembled to the Wall structure, an additional safeguard 'may be employed in the 'form of an elongated bolt 58 which extends through holes 25 and 56 in the base bearing bracket 26 and bearing bracket 19 and into the wall a considerable distance. By placing this bolt a considerable distance into the wall the danger of the whole roof girder construction being displaced from the wall structure is virtually eliminated. Naturally, many other anchoring structures may be added to facilitate this end such as a plate 59 on the end of elongated bolt 58 to further anchor the roof structure to the wall structure. Plate 59 would have a threaded opening to receive the threaded end of elongated bolt 58 and provide a solid interengagement therebetween.

When the entire extensive roof girder construction as described is placed upon a wall structure as shown in FIG. 8, and tie beam 49 is hung from each span 50, a ceiling may be attached to this alined parallel set of angle irons or tie beams 49 when the interior of the building is constructed. As is readily apparent, Without the necessity of reinforced columns in side walls 15 of the structure nor additional cross bracing to support the longer and more extensive span roof constructions, there is no problem in the positioning of windows and doors in the structure itself, and therefore the architectural features of the completed structure is adaptable to many different types of buildings and design features.

Thus, the above mentioned objects of this invention, among others, are achieved.

I claim:

1. Roof girder construction of the type having a pair of truss joists and bracket assemblies to be mounted on the vertical walls of a structure, said assemblies comprising a truss joist having a pair of upper and lower laterally spaced elongated angular members extending between the ridge of the roof and the vertical wall of the structure, said upper and lower members being transversely aligned and having interposed therebetween a continuous serpentine formed rod welded at alternating spaced points between each pair of said upper and lower members so that the ends of said upper and lower members are formed having a slot therebetween to provide means for positioning said truss assembly at any given angle with respect to the ridge of the roof and the vertical wall of the structure, a base bearing bracket extending inwardly of the vertical wall structure and having distal and proximal ends with respect to the wall and being adapted to be mounted thereon, said base bearing bracket having a base portion and an upright member integrally formed therewith, a portion of said upright member having a width substantially equal to the slot formed in one end of the truss assembly and mounted in position at a desired angle relative to the vertical wall of the structure so as to obtain the desired slope of the roof, the vertical portion of the proximal end of said base bearing bracket with respect to the wall extends beyond and is wider than the slot in the adjacent end of the truss assembly, a ridge bracket having a vertically disposed ridge plate positioned substantially parallel to the vertical wall of the structure and a laterally extending member formed integrally with the vertically disposed ridge plate having a width substantially equal to the slot formed in the other end of the truss assembly and mounted in position at a desired angle relative to the vertical wall of the structure so as to obtain the desired slope of the roof, and said base bearing plate and said ridge bracket having means thereon and being of sufiicient dimensional characteristics to facilitate the formation of a self-supporting roof girder construction without the aid of additional reinforcing members from means other than said roof construction.

2. Roof girder construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said ridge bracketing includes a second bracket formed complementary therewith and mounted on the vertical base plate thereof for mounting a complementary truss joist thereon thus forming a portion of the ridge of the roof.

3. Roof girder construction as set forth in claim 2 wherein a plurality of said portions of the ridge of the roof are arranged in substantially parallel relationship and an eave girder interconnects the adjacent ends of a plurality of adjacent pairs of truss and bracket assemblies to facilitate the formation of extensive roof girder construction without the necessity of additional support for means other than said roof girder construction.

4. Roof girder construction as set forth in claim 2 wherein a plurality of said portions of the ridge of the roof are arranged in substantially parallel relationship and a tie rod is mounted to each adjacent portion at the ridge of the roof so as to form a series of tie rods in aligned relationship across the ridge of the roof thereby tying said portions of the ridge of the roof together and facilitating the formation of extensive roof girder construction without the necessity of additional support from means other than said roof girder construction.

5. Roof girder construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said ridge bracket comprises a base plate and integrally formed therewith a pair of laterally extending aligned members, each member having a width substantially equal to the slot formed at one end of the truss joist thereby providing means for mounting a pair of truss joist thereon.

6. Roof girder construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said base bracket is formed having slotted openings therein for mounting on the vertical wall of said structure and providing means for expansion and contraction of said roof girder construction.

7. Roof girder construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein a cross beam is positioned between the vertical *wall sections of the structure and mounted on the undersurface of the base portion of the base bearing bracket and held in a substantially horizontal plane by hanger means.

8. Roof girder construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein the vertical portion of the proximal end of said base bearing bracket with respect to the wall includes a rectangular plate mounted on the end of said roof girder construction.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,258,408 3/1918 Hill 52-90 1,369,837 3/ 1921 Price 52-639 X 1,791,278 2/1931 Lucy 52-335 X 2,653,553 9/1953 Jacobs 52641 2,713,924 7/1955 Tripp 52-90 X FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner PRICE C. FAW, In, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 52639, 694, 713 

